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Wednesday 18th December 2019, 11.30am, 42F, highly variable, fast moving cloud. With only occasional clear periods. Breezy from SW and blowing the telescopes around. Small proms at 2 & 8 o'clock on the limb. Nothing much visible on the disk. Gong Ha agrees. Sun at ~12° altitude at 12.00.
The PST etalon is moving as expected under motor power. Though I'm getting so few clearances that its effects are difficult to judge. Trying some 2000 frame captures of the disk at 320fps 800x600 on the ASI174 in SharpCap. The hope was that I could capture the 2 o'clock prom as well as the disk. Plates of low cloud becoming established! Clear blue overhead much of the time. Or higher, fluffy cloud.
My wife has bought me some huge, Kamik winter/snow boots for Christmas at a ridiculously low price online. So I'm trying them out. I have been really struggling for foot warmth in the observatory before now. These still feel comfortable after an hour in the breezy dome. They should do too with a -50C / -58F rating on the [still] attached label. They slip on and off effortlessly. I could never be bothered with my walking boots. Too difficult to get on and off and then there were the fiddly laces.
I'm wearing my new, fake lambswool, "trapper" hat too. This covers my ears and neck where the wind usually whistles. I really ought to dig out my old duvet jacket with a hood for even more protection. These breezy condition really makes it feel much colder thanks to wind chill. That's the advantage of a rural observatory. Nobody can see how silly you look! Comfort is far more important than appearance. As long as you aren't daft enough to share images of your get-up.
12.30 and that's over an half hour without a clear view of the sun. Following the sun with the dome slit is effortless with the drive crank being so near my computer chair.
It was nearly 1300 before I could finally capture more of the disk. The cloud to the south does seem to be sinking slowly towards the horizon. Just in time for lunch! Well past the meridian now so I should do a manual flip before I'm called in. It's best to wait as long as possible before making the flip. Then the telescope tails don't try to hit the pier or overhanging monitor. Nor try to brush the laptop off the desk!
Luckily I can add a lot of westerly travel on the Simple Handset [paddle.] Then the mounting slowly corrects any changes I made at the end of its initial slew. Though you can't do anything manually. Start pushing or pulling on the telescopes and the mounting will be completely lost. It must always be driven by the stepper motors.
Lunch over and the sunshine is looking very watery. By 3pm the house was casting a shadow half way up the dome and I'm in the bottom half. I told you the sun was low at 55N! Stellarium says only about 11-12° high at maximum.
For my next trick I'm going to beat Windows 10 around the head if it doesn't start saving my videos onto my external SSD! I've told it countless times but it never, ever listens! Why bother to ask me what I want it to do with the external HD if it then completely ignores my choice? #"X¤%X&*! It's a good job Big Brother isn't listening! Isn't it? 😏
I had to snigger. The big American & global IT monopolies are getting together to agree SMART standards. Supposedly to get smart objects to talk to each other. Don't they really mean agreeing advertising standards to show on very smart object screen regardless of the maker?
YouTube is rapidly becoming completely unwatchable. With an advert aimed squarely at the mentally handicapped showing before every damned video! This is what the Sci-fi authors really meant by dystopia. Zombies with mashed potato brains. Raging against intolerable levels of advertising in every waking moment.
My wife has bought me some huge, Kamik winter/snow boots for Christmas at a ridiculously low price online. So I'm trying them out. I have been really struggling for foot warmth in the observatory before now. These still feel comfortable after an hour in the breezy dome. They should do too with a -50C / -58F rating on the [still] attached label. They slip on and off effortlessly. I could never be bothered with my walking boots. Too difficult to get on and off and then there were the fiddly laces.
I'm wearing my new, fake lambswool, "trapper" hat too. This covers my ears and neck where the wind usually whistles. I really ought to dig out my old duvet jacket with a hood for even more protection. These breezy condition really makes it feel much colder thanks to wind chill. That's the advantage of a rural observatory. Nobody can see how silly you look! Comfort is far more important than appearance. As long as you aren't daft enough to share images of your get-up.
12.30 and that's over an half hour without a clear view of the sun. Following the sun with the dome slit is effortless with the drive crank being so near my computer chair.
It was nearly 1300 before I could finally capture more of the disk. The cloud to the south does seem to be sinking slowly towards the horizon. Just in time for lunch! Well past the meridian now so I should do a manual flip before I'm called in. It's best to wait as long as possible before making the flip. Then the telescope tails don't try to hit the pier or overhanging monitor. Nor try to brush the laptop off the desk!
Luckily I can add a lot of westerly travel on the Simple Handset [paddle.] Then the mounting slowly corrects any changes I made at the end of its initial slew. Though you can't do anything manually. Start pushing or pulling on the telescopes and the mounting will be completely lost. It must always be driven by the stepper motors.
Lunch over and the sunshine is looking very watery. By 3pm the house was casting a shadow half way up the dome and I'm in the bottom half. I told you the sun was low at 55N! Stellarium says only about 11-12° high at maximum.
For my next trick I'm going to beat Windows 10 around the head if it doesn't start saving my videos onto my external SSD! I've told it countless times but it never, ever listens! Why bother to ask me what I want it to do with the external HD if it then completely ignores my choice? #"X¤%X&*! It's a good job Big Brother isn't listening! Isn't it? 😏
I had to snigger. The big American & global IT monopolies are getting together to agree SMART standards. Supposedly to get smart objects to talk to each other. Don't they really mean agreeing advertising standards to show on very smart object screen regardless of the maker?
YouTube is rapidly becoming completely unwatchable. With an advert aimed squarely at the mentally handicapped showing before every damned video! This is what the Sci-fi authors really meant by dystopia. Zombies with mashed potato brains. Raging against intolerable levels of advertising in every waking moment.
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